1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for the production of a fleece laminate material that has elastic regions and non-elastic regions. Parallel strips of elastic laminate are laminated in between two webs of nonwoven material, at a distance from one another, whereby the nonwoven webs are directly bonded to one another in the regions between the strips, and form non-elastic regions. The segments of the fleece laminate material that contain a strip form elastic regions. “Nonwoven” refers to a textile fiber material made of irregularly laid fibers that are bonded cohesively or adhesively to form a flat material.
2. The Prior Art
Fleece laminate material can be used as an elastic closure strip for baby diapers, for example, which can also have the shape of diaper ears and have an elastic center region as well as less elastic end segments that follow it on both sides. The non-elastic or less elastic end regions are utilized to attach closure elements, e.g. hook tapes, and to affix the closure strip to the diaper chassis. For cost-effective production, a great number of elastic strips are laminated in between broad webs of nonwoven, at a distance from one another. The closure strips required for diaper production are cut from the resulting multi-use fleece laminate material.
Within the scope of the known measures, the elastic strips laminated into the fleece laminate material consist of elastic films. Possible film materials are elastomers, e.g. SBS block copolymers, SIS block copolymers, polyurethane, ethylene copolymers and the like. Elastomer monofilms made of the stated materials are tacky. In order to be able to use them as rolled goods, a release liner has to be used, which covers the elastomer layer on at least one surface. The release liner consists, for example, of silicone paper, and serves as a temporary processing aid. In the processing of a film material, it is removed and wound up for disposal or re-use. Only afterwards can the elastic film be laminated to the nonwoven web. The handling of a monofilm covered with a release liner is complicated. In addition, there is the problem that elastic monofilms have a high elastic stretch in the machine running direction and are stretched in the longitudinal direction at high laminating speeds. After the laminate was glued, the elastic monofilm relaxes, as soon as no web tension is present any longer. This results in uncontrolled and undesirable wrinkle formation of the laminate material.
Within the scope of the known measures, co-extrusion films were frequently used for the stated reasons, which films have a tacky elastomer core layer and an outer layer of a non-blocking synthetic, e.g. a polyolefin. The outer layer, also called a skin layer, allows better processing and handling of the elastic film, but does not make any contribution to the desired properties of the fleece laminate material. This is additional material that neither improves the elastic properties of the laminate material nor makes any contribution to the textile nature of the material that is being aimed at.